


It Took a Tall One to See It (Two to Believe It, Three to Just Get In the Way)

by aeveee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 15:23:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1987941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeveee/pseuds/aeveee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jessica Drew is a witch; or: how even those best at hiding find something worth standing up for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Took a Tall One to See It (Two to Believe It, Three to Just Get In the Way)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raccoontitties](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raccoontitties/gifts).



> Title from 'Dilly' by Band of Horses.
> 
> Terribly executed birthday present for tumblr user octaviabutlers.

Jessica Drew gets sorted as the fifth Hufflepuff of her year. The applause she receives is polite, peppered with a few whistles. Jessica doesn’t bother to look for where they’d come from as she slides off the stool.

_‘Flighty, shrewd, but a few scales short in ambition,’_ Jessica had heard before the Sorting Hat bellowed ‘ _HUFFLEPUFF!’_ Not necessarily the picturesque badger, but the Sorting Hat must have seen _something_. Jessica thinks on whether lacking ambition is a bad thing and decides that one can only have ambition when one already has other things. For now, she’d settle for a warm dinner and a bed.

Later, Carol Danvers – _fellow first year, owner of a demonic cat_ – eschews dinner etiquette for jostling Jessica at the Hufflepuff table and stealing a bite of Jessica’s pudding.

“You know, I would have bet you’d be put in Gryffindor.”

“Why?” Jessica asks, taking her spoon back. She starts dividing her pudding: one mound for herself, another for Carol and her atrocious sweet tooth.

“You look stupid.”

“You’re Gryffindor,” Jessica points out. Carol just grins, large and proud and says, “Stupidly _brave_ ,” before shovelling her half of the pudding into her mouth and hopping away. Jessica sighs, considers that she’s only known Carol for the hours they spent in the same train compartment, and resolves to ignore her for the rest the school year.

Judging from the way Carol is already swamped by laughing, friendly faces, Jessica figures it won’t be hard.

\--

It turns out ignoring Gryffindors as a whole, actually, is a surprisingly difficult task.

Hufflepuffs are paired with Ravenclaws for classes while Gryffindors spend their learning hours with Slytherins. Jessica still finds herself accosted by Carol on a daily basis, and she has to wonder whether Carol spends time in class at all.

“Of course I go to class,” Carol says when Jessica voices her concerns. Her robes are a bit muddy from the latest Herbology lesson and she plucks at them for proof.

“The greenhouses are on the other side of the castle,” Jessica points out. It seems to do as much good as pointing out the sky is blue, for all Carol reacts.

 “What are you doing tomorrow night?”

Jessica is used to the non-sequiturs by now but she still takes a moment to level Carol with a look. Sometimes, if Jessica waits long enough, Carol will spill the beans on whatever exciting thing is eating at her at the moment. This time is not one of those times.

“I have that Potions essay to start.”

“That’s due in two weeks!” Carol says. Behind them, a group of upper years are chatting about their latest Transfiguration class. Jessica thinks about her matchstick, stuck halfway between a piece of wood and a mouse. It had been particularly furry, but the squeaks it made sounded more like wood splintering.

“I don’t know about your House, but in Hufflepuff, failing out of school in your first year is generally frowned upon.”

“Oh, come on, Jess. Live a little.”

“I am living. We’re at Hogwarts.”

Carol shakes her head and slings a muddy arm around Jessica’s thin shoulders.  “I meant live a little _with_ people. That Potions essay won’t be too hard to do if it’s the same one we got. You can spare one night.”

The staircase they’ve just stepped onto shudders to life. Jessica steadies herself with one hand on the railing, the other grabbing a fistful of Carol’s robes to keep her from tumbling backward. Carol’s grin is easy even as she shrugs herself free. “What do you say?”

“Do I have a choice?” Jessica asks. There’s a wry smile on her lips that she’s not quite sure she put there. Carol has that effect on people.

“Meet me on the seventh floor, by that statue that’s got the burn mark on it. I think we’re aiming for nine o’clock.”

“That’s past curfew.”

“Seventh floor, Jess,” Carol calls out before leaping across a significantly wide gap and scrambling onto a landing the stairwell’s swinging past. A burly boy with hair as gold as the stripes on his Gryffindor tie reaches out to steady Carol, greeting her by name.

Jessica will later learn that the boy’s name is Steve Rogers, a fourth year who Carol calls her best friend. For now, she wonders how Carol hasn’t fallen to her death yet, and heads off to Charms.

She absolutely will not be ducking curfew to indulge in whatever shenanigans Carol gets up to.

\--

She ducks curfew to indulge in whatever shenanigans Carol is up to.

Ironically, Carol isn’t even at the statue when Jessica gets there, identifying burn mark scorched just shy of a particularly inappropriate area. It’s the current subject of discussion between a spiky haired boy wearing a purple jumper, and a redhead who looks as though she’d rather be anywhere else.

“Clint, for the last time, I’m sure whoever this statue was based off of didn’t have such an unfortunate birthmark.”

“You don’t know that,” the boy named Clint says. He’s got the same easy grin that Carol usually sports only his is kind of lopsided. Jessica decides that she’s at the right place even if Carol isn’t there.

“I think they used this hallway for Duelling Club once. Stray hex is more likely than a birthmark,” a voice from behind Jessica says. Jessica turns around to see a short haired Slytherin girl striding towards them which would be fine if it weren’t for the Prefect badge pinned neatly to the front of her robes. Jessica doesn’t know whether she should try to run or hope if she stays still enough she won’t be noticed. Either way, she’s cursing Carol under her breath.

Of course, that’s when Carol shows up.

“Jess! You made it!”

All eyes turn to her as Carol bounds forward. Jessica intercepts Carol and tugs her close by her obnoxiously red sweater, hissing, “Carol, there is a _Prefect_ here. We are in so much trouble.”

“Oh, relax,” Carol says at the same time the Prefect says: “They’re cute when they’re young, aren’t they?” Jessica eyes the both of them until eventually, the Prefect smooths out her robes and holds a hand out.

“Maria Hill. Fifth Year Prefect.” Then, as if her tie doesn’t give her away, “Slytherin.”

Jessica just stands beside Carol even as Carol twists out of Jessica’s grip, staring and silent. Eventually, Carol sighs and says, “This is Jessica Drew. First year ‘fraidy cat. Hufflepuff. She’s good at Charms, though.”

“I am not good at Charms,” Jessica says. She has no idea why she felt the need to say it. It seems as though everyone is judging her and she figured she should make it clear: she is in no way good at anything. They should just let her go now.

Carol, on the other hand, seems to have a completely different idea. Her fingers are overly warm as she slips them around Jessica’s. “Nah, she’s good, or else I wouldn’t have told her about this.”

_About what?_ Jessica wants to ask. She doesn’t though. Carol is tugging her toward the statue, an excited grin making her face seem larger than usual. “Come on. The newbie gets to do the honours: open the door!”

“What door?” No-one answers her. Jessica stares at the statue, then at the wall behind it, then at the people behind her. Carol is still grinning. “ _What_ door?”

She’s half the mind to leave when the redhead finally steps forward, places a hand on a brick to the right of the statue, and motions for Jessica to come forward. “Just push,” is all she says before she steps back. “It might be a little heavy for your little stick arms, though.”

“Don’t be rude,” Jessica hears from Prefect Maria Hill but she ignores them, focuses on the brick she’s been directed to. It’s rough, a little warm to the touch. Jessica isn’t sure if it’s left over from Carol’s hand in hers, or if she’s feeling magic in the brick. Either way, she pushes.

She nearly topples into the hole that suddenly opens up, and the laughter behind her is raucous. If it weren’t for the hand currently curled in the back of her robes, she would have been treated to a face full of dirt. Jessica squirms and hears, “Good job, Jessica,” in her ear before the redhead steps back, smirk on her lips.

She’s going to hex Carol for this. She’s going to hex all of them.

For now, she settles for being guided through the hole in the wall into a tunnel. “Secret passageway,” Prefect Maria Hill explains as she follows Jessica through. “Keep your head low or you’ll lose it.”

The nudge Jessica gets on the top of her head saves her from a rock she feels scrape by and she mutters a small _thank you_. Several people behind her, she can here Carol loudly exclaiming something. Seriously. She will hex Carol for this.

She forgets all of her anger when the tunnel opens up into a room with high, vaulted ceilings. There are dummies lined down one wall, chalk boards filled with scribblings on different spells along another. In the centre, there are a gaggle of students of varying ages. They part to reveal a short, Slytherin boy who looks altogether too pleased to see them.

“Ah. I see you’ve all made it!”

“Ignore him,” Maria Hill mutters as she passes Jessica. “Tony’s full of shit.”

Before Jessica can ask what that means, Tony’s eyes find her and his face splits in delight. “A newcomer!”

“Don’t do it,” Maria warns.

Tony doesn’t seem to hear any voice but his own as he strides forward. He’s older than Jessica, she’s sure, but they’re almost the same height. She sees him straighten to try and get the few meager centimetres he has on her before he raises his arms, a grand gesture encompassing the whole room.

“Welcome, you lucky little first year, to the Avengers.”

Maria Hill throws a hex and Jessica watches as Tony keels over, mouth comically frozen open.

\--

Later, after the blonde boy everyone greets as Steve releases Tony from Maria’s Full Body Bind, Jessica gets told they’re not actually ‘the Avengers’.

“It’s a name Tony made up,” Clint explains. He’s fiddling with his wand and making whooshing noises as he points it randomly around the room. The redhead who hasn’t really left his side since Jessica first saw them makes a small noise of agreement before idly smacking Clint’s wand down with her own. Jessica watches as sparks fly from the tips of both.

“Stop that before you hurt somebody.”

“This is Natasha, by the way,” Clint says. “We’re third years. Gryffindor. She’s always this grumpy.”

“Carol said you’re good at Charms,” Natasha interrupts, ignoring Clint. “Show me.”

Jessica gropes around for her wand in her robes and produces it. She’s a little ashamed to say it’s shaking as she holds it at her side. “I’m really not good at Charms.”

“Is that right?” Natasha asks. “What do you know about duelling?”

“I’m a first year.”

“You don’t look Muggle to me. Come on.”

Maybe it’s the word Muggle, a searching dig at her heritage. Or maybe it’s the derision in Natasha’s voice. Either way, Jessica takes a deep breath and shouts, “ _Incendio_!”

The ease with which Natasha flicks Jessica’s spell away should be surprising, but isn’t. “Settling on easy spells?”

“ _Immobulus!”_

“Usually don’t learn that until second year. Better.”

Jessica takes a deep breath, screws her eyes shut in concentration, and begins twirling her wand around herself above her head.

“What is she doing?” Jessica hears from a distance. It sounds like Carol. Everything gets fuzzier as the feeling of cold fingers trickles down her body and when she opens her eyes next, Jessica’s faced with Natasha who has an unreadable look on her face. All of the other students are staring in silence.

“A Disillusionment Charm,” Natasha says eventually. Jessica looks down at herself, sees the ripple of the floor distorted through her. Several patches of her robes still show like haphazard spots of dirt.

“Didn’t work too well, you can still see where I am.”

“You’ve done better than most of the people in my Charms class,” Jessica hears. Maria Hill is standing off to the side, an impressed look on her face. “We’re still practicing on inanimate objects.”

Jessica is eleven years old and the only thing she’s currently learning is the Levitation Charm. She doesn’t mention that she usually does better with her Disillusionments. Doesn’t mention why she’d need them.

“I told you she was good,” Carol says, beaming.

Natasha, having pocketed her wand, walks a slow circle around Jessica before coming to a stop beside Steve.

“She’s mine,” Natasha says. Steve looks at her, broad shoulders shrugging just once.

“Let’s break into partners, everyone. We’re practicing deflections today. Jessica, do you have a moment?”

Natasha’s eyes track her movements as Jessica walks to where Steve is standing. She barely comes up to his chest. She doesn’t understand how Carol can hold a conversation with this wall of a boy. “Um. Did I do something?”

“No,” Steve says reassuringly. His smile is warm, like Carol’s hand around hers. Jessica feels a bit of herself settle. “Just… Natasha can be a little intense sometimes. Don’t take it personally, and feel free to come talk to me if you feel like things are going too fast, okay? Duelling partners aren’t actually set in stone here. We can switch things up to make things work.”

“Okay,” Jessica hedges. Steve gives her a pat on the back.

“May the best witch win,” he grins. Then he sets off, joins Carol who is staring at Tony scribbling on a chalkboard. Something about the angle of wand entrance into a spell and the efficacy of deflection versus rebounds.

“Do you need beginner’s lessons on that too, or can I assume you know how to defend as well as hide?” Natasha says from behind Jessica. Jessica spins, trips on her robes a little bit.

“I’ve never learned deflections.”

Natasha’s smile is all teeth. “Time to get started then.”

Jessica barely dodges the Disarming Charm Natasha fires at her and spends the next hour alternating between physical dodging and trying to follow Natasha’s shouted tips on spell deflection. By the end, Jessica is sweaty and tired and buzzing from having successfully deflected an ‘ _Incendio!_ ’

“See you next month,” Natasha says.

Jessica resolves to never come here again.


End file.
